Prisoner of War
by mous1elousi3
Summary: If you want to wound the dragon, take away one of his claws. While out on a tour of the empire, Emperor Ling's camp is attacked.


_**A/N: First up, triggers warnings for rape/sexual assault. Second, this piece **_**_is actually one of two stories I call "long drabble" and you will see why. I have debated posting this for months due to some elements of the story. Forgive me. Okay, that said, hope you like it._**

_**Disclaimer: So not mine, but Hiromu Arakawa's, I'm just borrowing. **_

**"Prisoner of War"**

Lan Fan jerked awake when the tent flap opened, the rush of chilly air on her bare skin reminding her all at once of her situation. The _qi_ that had suddenly appeared in the night, the scent of blood and the clash of steel, a drug-soaked cloth the scent of which still lingered on her skin, and then darkness. When next she awoke she was here, her clothes and automail arm gone and her only comfort the fact that she was still alive. She was beyond anger and shame at this point though. The moment she was free she was going to kill them all.

With her single arm bound to the central pole however, she could do nothing for her nakedness other than to shift slightly to one side. Her captor had not entered the tent alone and when he noticed her movement he laughed.

"I've always heard that the emperor kept a concubine for a guard. Why are you shy?"

The man spoke with the accent of one who had grown up in one of the nomadic tribes that covered the north and east of Xing. Lan Fan did not answer, instead choosing to keep her gaze trained to the floor.

The man turned to his companions. "The emperor prefers the silent type? Or is it that she doesn't think we're good enough to speak to?" He turned back to her, stepped closer and got down on one knee. Then he lifted her face towards him by her chin and asked, "Am I not good enough to talk to, girl? Well that's not nice. Not after I got you in this nice, warm tent, with good food coming and a bed soon enough. I could have left you outside in the cold with the dogs."

Lan Fan held her tongue and tried not to flinch. He was much too close to her in her state and the last thing she wanted was for him to think that she feared his touch. For a man like him that kind of fear was an invitation. But he made no move to let his hands wander. He studied her face for a while, as if searching for something, and then stood up and away. Then he walked around behind her and said to his companions, "I thought before about sending back the emperor's guards in pieces as a message, but this one's too pretty for that."

The companions—Lan Fan counted five, possibly generals—started laughing. It was lewd, suggestive, and that sent a cold finger of fear tracing a path up her spine. The man laughed too, then grabbed Lan Fan by the hair and forced her neck back so that she could look at his face. He asked, "Are you his favourite? Is that why he dressed you up like a guard and stuck you outside his tent?"

One of the other men spoke up then, his words distorted by a lisp from a busted lip or tongue, "That whore can fight. She cut through eight of my men before I could take her down."

The man kept staring down at Lan Fan's face. He asked, "Is that so? You a real fighter, girlie? Lost that arm of yours in a battle? I heard about you, the shadow with the metal arm. So this is what you look like with no clothes on...you would give a man fine sons."

Lan Fan tried to ignore the pain in her neck and back from the way he was forcing her to bend and what the air was doing to her body. She could not ignore the intent in their _qi_ though or the feel of their gaze on her skin. These men were going to hurt her.

The man said, "I'm going to make you scream. I'm going to make you call for your emperor until you can't talk again. I'm going to make your body hurt in ways you didn't know it could. You'll like it too. They always do." His companions started laughing again. Their _qi_ surged with their excitement, anticipation. Lan Fan forced herself not to react though she felt the gooseflesh rising on her skin. The man leaned in close then so that she could smell the beer on his breath and said, "And then I'm going to send you back to him fat with my bastard."

Then he grabbed by the chin with his other hand and kissed her roughly, biting her lip to force her mouth open and then thrusting his tongue in. His companions cheered as if they were watching a game. She nearly choked but he kept at it until her struggle for air got too much and released her. Then she spat his saliva at his companions' feet and said, "The emperor will not come for me. I'm a guard, one of many, easily replaceable. I am not worth an empire, and you are a threat to that empire that he must get rid of!"

"So she can speak!" declared the man triumphantly, walking around the pole again so that she could look at him. She scowled and he grinned. Then he drew back his hand and punched her in the face.

**o0o**

The emperor's camp was in chaos. The midnight attack had taken them by surprise, not even Emperor Yao had felt the attackers approach until it was too late and they were already upon them. It could not have gone more wrong after that.

The emperor stood now half-dressed in the burnt-out remains of the camp, his long hair loose, flying in the ash-laden wind, hands hanging limply at his sides though one still held his sword, staring blankly at the scene. Their attackers had been well-prepared. They came at the camp head-on but with alkahestrists, bombs and guns. The guards had all put up a good fight too, cutting down the first wave in a matter of minutes. And then the traitors on the inside turned on their companions and suddenly the tents were ablaze. Lan Fan did her duty; she tried to get the emperor out and on his way back to the capital before the attackers could get too close. She almost made it.

"She's not among the bodies. I checked. They took her," said Princess Chang, coming up behind him also still dressed in her sleeping robes.

Emperor Yao replied without looking at her, "I know. I can feel her _qi_."

"If they took her and she's still alive, they have a reason. They're not going to kill her yet," said Princess Chang.

"They better not. I'll turn them all into ash," said the Emperor. Then he took a deep breath, held it, released it and said, "They came here for her. They killed all the others they could but took away my personal guards. I want to know why."

A throat cleared behind them and they turned to find Alphonse and Commander Liu waiting with a maid and a coat. The emperor gestured and the maid scurried forward to help him dress. He stopped her by taking the coat from her hands, and said with a smile, "Go help the others."

She did not hesitate to scamper off. He wondered if any of her friends had died in the night. No doubt they had. They had suffered a devastating blow.

"Tell me," began the emperor, as he shrugged on the coat, "why would you launch a late night attack on the camp of the Emperor of Xing, knowing that he never travels with less than a battalion, an alkahestrist and a dozen highly-trained bodyguards? Why would you risk your men, of which you number much less than his, to snatch away one of those bodyguards and hold her prisoner? Do you think that he would negotiate for the life of a guard?"

Commander Liu looked him straight in the eye, an offence that could cost anyone else their head but for this man not even a blink, and replied, "I would."

The emperor lifted an eyebrow. The commander said, "If I thought that she was His Majesty's woman, I would. There is much gossip about His Majesty having a female guard. They say she is His Majesty's concubine, but of such low birth that the only way to keep her around was to give her a position. Or at least, they say that until they see her take out an assassin or two. I'm sure our visitors last night are reconsidering their intel right now. At least ten of their men died by her hand, and two of them after they'd relieved her of her arm."

"She's not my concubine. I haven't touched her," said the emperor. He was greeted with three disbelieving stares. He scoffed. "You too?"

"If that's how you treat a woman who you're not sleeping with, there'll be no peace in your seraglio," said Princess Chang without the slightest embarrassment.

"When we were growing up, Lan Fan was the closest thing I had to a sister," said the emperor, shrugging.

"I don't look at any of my sisters like that," said Commander Liu, studying Princess Chang then. She stuck out her tongue at him.

"If I looked at Winry like that, Brother would kill me," said Alphonse.

The emperor rolled his eyes. "I haven't touched her," he said.

"Yeah, okay, that's all well and good, but the general impression is that if you do have a female guard, which you in fact do, you're sleeping with her. This makes her a target to anyone who believes the rumours and hence what happened last night. They think they've caught quite a prize and to make you suffer they're going to make her suffer," said Commander Liu.

No one missed the way the emperor clenched his fist at that. For a moment it looked as if he wanted to tear something apart, but then it passed and he said calmly, "I want to know why they took her. We were not at war. We have no troubles with anyone. We are on a tour of this area so that I may get to know my people better. Now this here, this was uncalled for. If they knew enough to conceal their _qi_ to attack us, they have to know that I know where they are even now. I want her back and may whatever gods they pray to help them if she is any way different from how they took her."

"Well then," said Princess Chang with a toothy smile, "let's go find out."

**o0o**

Lan Fan's left eye was swollen shut. Her jaw creaked ominously when it moved, she had a busted lip and one of her teeth may have been broken. She counted at least two cracked ribs, a sprained wrist, broken toe and innumerable bruises and other injuries from the beating. Someone had kicked her in the stomach with a steel-plated boot and though it hurt she didn't think there was any internal bleeding. But they had not raped her, not yet anyway, and for that she was a little grateful.

It hurt to hang off of her arm. To keep her mind preoccupied Lan Fan focused on the emperor's _qi_, still burning strong in her mind, and how she might escape from her captors. She was not particularly concerned about being naked; her training had extended to teaching her to fight an attacker who might surprise her in the bath. But being naked in this environment would be a death sentence if the emperor's camp was too far for her to run to in a matter of hours. With her injuries too, it was not likely that she would make it very far before they caught up with her again. They were a clever bunch of bastards indeed.

Then the tent flap opened again and Lan Fan looked up. Her new visitor was a woman, older than her but not by much, beautiful and dressed in the style of Emperor Yao's court. This was a style heavily influenced by Amestris, given Princess Chang's husband and their trade with the country, but reproduced in the fine silks and colours of Xing. It always appeared a strange sight to Lan Fan when the courtiers assembled in their finest reproductions. This woman would not have stood out from the rest. Then she said, "So you are the emperor's whore."

Lan Fan did not flinch. She had heard this word, among others, thrown about in gossip for years. Very few actually knew her to be a woman, for the emperor always had a dozen guards and each was masked and hooded. There was also the fact that they had no proof and never would have. The emperor would not touch her.

She looked away from the woman to the ground to rest her aching, swollen eye. The woman continued, "You don't look like much. Too much muscle and that missing arm…" She paused, smiled nastily, and said, "You must be one hell of a ride."

Lan Fan let the woman be pleased with her joke and focused on shifting her weight to take the strain off of her knees. Putting it on her arm hurt too much though, so she shifted back. The woman watched her movements and then said, "Ten years the emperor has sat on that throne. Ten years during which he has opened trade with the Amestrians, developed a rail system that connects the empire, invited the heads of the various clans into powerful positions in government… and sired no heirs. And not for a lack of trying if rumours are to be believed. His empire is vulnerable. With no heir his empire has no future and therefore must come to an end."

Lan Fan looked back at the woman now, trying to place her face. Was this one of the emperor's dissenting siblings who had rejected his rule and tried to set up separate kingdoms for themselves within the empire? The woman did not look like any of them, and Lan Fan had been learning their faces since she first began training with the emperor back when he was just Prince Yao. She said then, "The emperor will not come for me. I am a guard, not worth any more than any of his other subjects. He should already be on his way to the capital now. But he will not forgive this slight to his honour."

"The emperor and his army are actually heading over here. He wants you back," said the woman smugly. "My lord wants His Majesty to hear you crying out for him while he takes you. He wants your lord to know that as easily as he can have his woman, my lord can have his kingdom."

"I won't scream," said Lan Fan.

The woman smiled at her, her eyes sad. "Yes, you will." Then she asked, "I hear rumours though, that Princess Chang is with child? Is that true? Is the emperor going to select a half-breed to sit on the throne of Xing?"

Lan Fan gave the woman a look that asked if she seriously thought that her question would be answered. The woman came closer, knelt before Lan Fan and grabbed her low on the belly. Lan Fan winced when she squeezed, and the woman asked, "Or is it you? Is there the future ruler of Xing in there?"

Lan Fan bent as much as she could away from the woman's hand and said, "I am not a concubine. Even if my lord had touched me my child would not be acknowledged."

The woman looked her over again and then laughed. "Perhaps he hasn't touched you. But he wants to, or he would not be charging towards us as he is. Not for an easily replaceable guard. Tell me something, do you think he would want to touch you anymore after my lord is done with you?"

"Why have you done this? What is the point?" asked Lan Fan, finally fed up. All this talk about touching brought up memories of hopes and dreams she had only just recently learned to suppress. The last thing she wanted was to be reminded of the way she still almost had to physically restrain herself from reaching out to the emperor when he looked so weary of the weight on his shoulders. Of the ways he would find to let his hands linger on her skin too long whenever they sparred, alone. Of the sensation of his gaze whenever he found her without her mask and uniform, wandering the streets and gardens of the capital city on her days off, days which happened to coincide with his outings as well.

The woman replied, "Because Xing is on the brink of civil war and we know that if that happens the one to succeed will not suffer us to keep our lands. Xing needs a new king, one who understands that some traditions must not be broken."

"When some of those traditions were in effect, children were killing each other," Lan Fan said. "His Majesty is trying to change Xing for the better. He wants our people to rise up out of the dirt and the fighting and become greater than our neighbours. The old way was destroying us."

"Only the emperor's children," said the woman.

"Everyone's children were suffering. Each of his fifty wives came from one of the clans," said Lan Fan.

"Well then why should the other clans submit to the will of the Yao?" asked the woman.

"Because the Yao are leading the clans to equal prosperity," replied Lan Fan. "His Majesty only wants the best for the people."

The woman studied Lan Fan's expression for a long while then, and then said, "My lord was not joking about what he said that he would do to you. I came here to help you prepare for him."

There was that thrill of fear, the gooseflesh, the racing heartbeat, the bracing for horror. Grandfather Fu had done his best to teach her to be wary of the wandering hands of young men, even the emperor's. Even now she could hear his voice in her head, _"Your place is at his back, not in his bed. Do not forget that you have the right to refuse, and that you _should_ refuse. As his guard, no child you might have would be of use to him and you just might be forced out of the palace."_

There was no way in hell she would let this man have what she had denied others including the man she loved. She said to the woman, "If you say that my lord is coming for me, then tell your Lord to let me go. Carefree though he may appear, he will not be merciful."

**0o0**

The captors had made no attempt to conceal their camp. They had pitched their tents at the highest point of the steppes, and had assembled outside with their horses and warriors watching the emperor's army approach. Emperor Yao looked up at them and their leader, noticed no sign of Lan Fan or the other guards they had taken with her and then said, "This makes no sense."

Princess Chang replied, "No, it does not. You raid the emperor's camp for his guard and then set up your own in plain view and wait for him to retaliate? You don't do that unless you have a foolproof plan for success."

"No part of that plan should have included snatching Lan Fan," said Emperor Yao.

"Indeed," said Princess Chang, looking over at her brother a moment. "But for them it did. They are assuming that the way to you is through her, which of course you're proving right by giving chase."

"Scold me later," he said.

She exchanged a glance with Commander Liu and Alphonse and then continued, "She will. We're playing into their hands rather than going for back up."

"I won't leave her behind," said the emperor.

"We're not going to leave her behind," said Princess Chang.

The emperor began, "If they hurt her…" He clenched and unclenched his fists again, gritted his teeth, took a deep breath, released it, and said, "I promised Fu that I would protect her. I will not break that promise."

Princess Chang looked as she wanted to reach over and hug him, but she did not. It would have been a severe breach of protocol and propriety. No one could touch the Son of Heaven without his invitation, not unless they were his guards and even then only if his life was in extreme danger. Princess Chang supposed that was why a number of their ancestors were such severe lechers. Denied of affection normally they sought it out in the one way they knew how. Emperor Yao too was not innocent of this practice. He openly flirted with half the court, maids, female soldiers, market women, female officials, beggar women in the streets, and on one memorable occasion, Riza Hawkeye in front of the general. And then there was the way he made great fanfare of his visits to the seraglio. The one woman, whom he never approached in such a manner, including the princess and his other half-sisters, was Lan Fan. As far as the princess could remember, the last time the emperor and his bodyguard had made any physical contact outside of duty was a decade ago in Amestris, and even then that was because they were trying to save other people.

Lan Fan was untouchable. Very few people had seen her without her mask since their return and even fewer still knew that she was a woman in the first place. The rumours were always there but without proof they were nothing more than whispers in shadowed corridors. But this reserve extended into her family. There were no suitors called, no matchmakers, and more than once the princess wondered if this was because of her brother or the guard's own choice. More than likely it was a little of both. The emperor would not allow anyone to take her from his side and she would not stand to be removed. And now someone had taken her.

They had left the camp with half of his battalion and the few surviving bodyguards. The emperor had dressed for battle too, though Commander Liu had no intention of letting him actually fight. But his armour shone like the sun in the light and with his fierce expression he looked very much like an avenging god on a mission to punish the wicked. Their enemies, by contrast, were dressed rather casually, though they were certainly armed and similarly stern-faced. Both sides were steeling their wills for the bloodshed to come, if it came down to it. Princess Chang prayed that it would not.

The emperor called a halt to the march. His soldiers stopped as one, a show of discipline for their enemy. These men and women, as one, would do anything their lord commanded. Then he called across to their enemy, "Where are my guards?"

There was a moment of silence, then the spears went up and Princess Chang gasped in horror. Alphonse groaned loudly. Only the emperor and Commander Liu gave no visible reaction to the sight of the heads mounted atop the spears. Then the emperor called out, "There's still one missing."

Princess Chang, who had been trying her best not to look, noticed then that indeed there was one head missing. Lan Fan was not there. She breathed a sigh of relief that she felt echoed by her companions.

One of the enemies stepped forward. He was a tall, stout man, dressed little different from the others but carried himself in a manner that suggested that he was the leader. He stared down at the emperor's army for a moment, perhaps counting, and then said, "So you came for the whore after all."

Still no reaction from the emperor. The man waited, grunted and then said, "I was going to send her back to you. You need not have come. I know how exhausting these long excursions must be on Your Highness, accustomed as you are to life in the palace."

Princess Chang felt herself relax slightly. Who was this man that he did not know Emperor Yao's story? Under all the imperial finery the young emperor still carried the physique and skill of a trained warrior, capable of overcoming, on his own, the assassins that would show up from time-to-time. Half the time, the princess was convinced that her brother had no need for Lan Fan at all except for the fact that he had made the girl promise that she would not leave his side.

If the emperor was similarly confused he did not show it as he called back, "Where is our guard then? She is a most loyal subject and one of our best, it would be inconvenient to have to replace her."

The man was not amused. He stared at the emperor, long and hard, noting the way he still held his sword loosely and the shine of his armour. Then he called over one of his men with a hand and whispered something. The man took off at once. A moment later there was some commotion from the back of their assembly and then there was Lan Fan.

She was dressed in a long fur, her hair loose, her feet and arm worryingly bare and looking as if she had sustained a serious beating. But she was walking, albeit with a slight limp, and carried herself in that usual slightly arrogant but sure manner. No matter what they had done to her, she still had her dignity. Even from this distance, Princess Chang could feel the fear in the four men who marched with her. The emperor's personal bodyguard was a force to be reckoned with. But the princess did not like the sight of the girl's bare legs.

When Lan Fan stood with the leader, he called back to the emperor, "Here she is your _precious subject._" Then he reached over, grabbed one end of the fur wrapped around her and pulled.

It came loose immediately and though Lan Fan made a move to grab it, the man pulled it free without much trouble. Then Princess Chang and all assembled knew why the sight of the bare legs had disturbed her. The man had stripped the warrior naked.

Alphonse quickly averted his eyes, but Commander Liu and the emperor did not. Princess Chang looked to the soldiers and was surprised to find that to a man, they too had averted their gaze from Lan Fan. Even unmasked as she was, even if they now all had absolute confirmation of what she was, they would respect her and not look. It worried the princess though, that even the emperor's _qi_ had stilled. Oblivious to this, or perhaps well aware, their enemies were laughing, and had been since Lan Fan's exposure. This was a serious insult, one that no man, to say nothing of an emperor was going to forgive. This was going to be very bad.

The emperor's voice was deceptively calm then, as he asked, "And where is our guard's uniform? We are sure you did not find her in the bath."

Lan Fan tried her best to cover herself with the one arm but her face was bright red with shame. Her qi fluttered wildly in her distress. Princess Chang hoped she did not cry. The sight of her tears would be the signal for the slaughter.

"A whore does not need them to do her duty," said the man, still grinning at the emperor.

"She is not a whore. And you have dishonoured her and her clan. Give her back the fur and let her go and the Yao would consider forgiving this insult. Know this, the cost of this is death," said the emperor.

"The Yao? You speak of the clan alone? Aren't you the 'Emperor of Xing', why is this a clan matter?" asked the man.

"The Yao and Xing are as one, but the cost of the insult to Xing is the elimination of all your people. But as a Yao our guard would not be pleased with her lord if we were to kill your women and children on her behalf. The Yao would settle for you and the men who aided you in this," said the emperor.

The man took a moment to process this, then turned to Lan Fan, grabbed her by the hair and forced her to kneel before him. He called, "This isn't a negotiation. I just wanted you to have a last look before I make her my woman and send her back to you with my bastard in her belly!" Then he pulled her head back to kiss her.

Lan Fan started struggling, and then when he made to grab a breast, she cried out, "No!"

That was all that the emperor and his men needed to hear. With an angry shout, they began charging across the steppes to the enemy camp, Emperor Yao at the head. He had moved so quickly that Princess Chang had no idea that he was gone until she heard Alphonse cry out, "Ling, no!"

The man holding onto Lan Fan laughed and tossed her aside, then drew his swords. This proved to be a fatal mistake.

One does not simply humiliate an imperial bodyguard. Not in front of her colleagues and her friends and certainly not in front of her emperor.

The moment the man released Lan Fan she was up again. She snatched the closest spear, turned it on its holder, went up over him and took down the two behind him. It took the others by surprise and far too long to realise what had happened before they were dispatched by the one-armed girl. But then they were never a match for her, not when she had faced homunculi and lived.

She had to clear their front lines before the emperor made it to them. She had to cover her nakedness as much as to preserve what was left of her dignity as it was to protect herself from their swords. The man who was their leader was out of sight. He had gone running towards the emperor. Lan Fan quickly found his _qi_ though and changed directions, cutting a path towards him. As she went she stripped what she could from the fallen to cover herself. In less than ten minutes she had a tunic, pants, and boots, a spear in her one hand and a dagger between her teeth. She did not want to think too much of how she might look. She only knew that she had to get to the man who had humiliated her in front of the emperor.

A moment later he was in her sights again. Lan Fan did not hesitate; she threw the spear. It hit its mark with a meaty "thunk!"

The man sank to his knees at once, blood pouring down his back like water. Lan Fan took her time walking up to him, the battle raging around her of no more consequence than if she were walking through a particularly boisterous festival. The spear had gone straight through him, the tip sticking out of his chest at least six inches. Lan Fan walked around him, inspecting her handiwork as he had circled her in the tent before stopping behind him. Then she gripped the spear with both hands, put a foot on her back to give herself leverage and pulled it out. His body dropped heavily into the mud.

And then suddenly the woman was there and Lan Fan's feet were stuck fast in the earth by an alkahestry spell.

"I'm afraid I can't let you go," she said. "My lord wants you alive." She ignored the leader's body in the soft earth beside them.

Lan Fan watched the battle part around them, felt the emperor's _qi_ coming ever closer, already enveloping her body like a blanket as if to shield her from the eyes of their enemies. She said, "I'm afraid I can't go with you. My lord wants me back."

"You can't break out of my binding," said the woman.

Lan Fan did not bother with trying. Instead she asked, "Who is your lord?"

"The true ruler of Xing," said the woman. "He who stands before his brothers and above all men, he who is one with gods and bows to none. When he is rid of the Usurper, he shall restore order to Xing and its people."

So another of the emperor's brothers was behind this? After all the trouble they had gone through to avoid having to kill any of his siblings, this was how he was being repaid? Lan Fan suppressed an irritated groan and tried to pry her foot free of the ground. Her earthen shackles climbed to her knees. The woman started towards her, smiling now, and said, "My lord wants you on display when he takes the throne. The Usurper's woman will become my lord's concubine while I will sit as my lord's queen. This is merely a distraction, a smoke screen to mask his ascension. If you come quietly, it will be easier for everyone."

That was not going to happen. Lan Fan threw the spear first and as expected the woman deflected it without as much as a flinch. As far as Lan Fan was concerned, alkahestrists, like alchemists, were an annoying bunch and could all go hang. She took the dagger from her mouth then and prepared to take the woman on as best she could manage one-handed and trapped in the ground. The woman gave her a pitying smile and drew out what looked like a flash bomb. Lan Fan hoped it was a flash bomb. The woman made to throw it, and something whipped out of the sky, snatched her about the waist and threw her from the battlefield.

Lan Fan knew the woman was dead when the earth shackles crumbled at her feet. Then a spear flew past her shoulder and she dropped to the ground, took a moment to pick out the individual _qi_ of the enemy soldiers and her would-be rescuers and set out again behind the other two men who had tried to rape her.

Halfway there she was suddenly snatched about the waist and hoisted up onto a very familiar shoulder. So focused had she been on tracking her captors that she had not noticed the emperor's approach until he got to her. And when she recognised him she said, "My lord! Put me down! We have to get you out of here!"

"Well hello, Lan Fan. It's good to see you too. I noticed that you got a little roughed up, did they do anything else to you?" asked the emperor, running back the way he had come now, still carrying her on his shoulder and cutting through their enemies as if she weighed no more than a sack of flour.

"No, my lord, but—" she began, trying to push up off his shoulder. A man with a dagger came running up. She threw her own and struck him in the forehead. He fell heavily behind them and she lamented the loss of her weapon.

"—oh good, I really didn't want to have to kill any of those other people," he said, and stabbed another man through his back. He grabbed the man's sword as the body fell and passed it to her. "Well then, let's get you out of here and checked out. Oh, and some new clothes. I see you got some yourself, but I would prefer it if you weren't wearing any of their things."

She tried to push up off his shoulder again. She had been humiliated enough for the day so far and the last thing she was going to stand for was having the emperor protect her, his bodyguard, for a second time. As if sensing her thoughts though, the emperor tightened his hold on her legs and said, "While we're on the subject, I think we need to discuss some of the rumours that have been circulating about the nature of our relationship."

"_What_?" Lan Fan asked, stunned. She nearly slipped off his shoulder.

"It would appear," the emperor began, casually, "that Princess Chang, Commander Liu and Alphonse Elric are of the opinion that we are sleeping with each other."

"W-what?" Lan Fan sputtered. "B-but they... B-but we... _What_?"

"I know, I was surprised too," said the emperor. "Also, irritated. I don't like being accused of something I haven't done."

"Well that is understandable, my lord," said Lan Fan. "B-but, my lord, I hardly think this is the time or the place to have this discussion."

Of a sudden he slid her down, then dropped and rolled to avoid a spear. The man who threw it was taken down by a bodyguard and Lan Fan realised they were back at the emperor's camp. There were the imperial dragon banners-with no Royal Wives or Empress they were missing the phoenix. There were the attendants and surviving bodyguards who were probably frantic when they realised that the emperor had led the charge into the fray. And there was Princess Chang running up to them with Alphonse and the Imperial Physician in tow.

"Ling Yao! Ling Yao, you idiot! You could've been killed!" The princess screamed as she came running. "And oh, Lan Fan! Lan Fan, are you alright? They didn't—that man didn't do what he said he would, right?"

The emperor released Lan Fan to the physician and the attendants who immediately set about poking and prodding her while trying to get her to a tent. She shook her head at the princess, "No, my lady. They beat me but he did not touch me like that. But I don't think that these people are the ones in charge. There was a woman. She said something about another, she called His Imperial Majesty the 'usurper' and that this is all a diversion for him to seize the throne."

"Where is the woman now?" asked Commander Liu.

"Something killed her. I didn't see," said Lan Fan. She looked away from them as she said this and noticed something. "Where is my lord?"

The others turned with her, looking around for any sign of the man in the shining armour, but there was no sign of him. The emperor had gone back into the battle, and was quite likely hunting the man who had dared to threaten Lan Fan in front of him. Lan Fan doubted the emperor had seen her handle that issue herself. At the realisation, Lan Fan made to go after him, shrugging away the attendants and physician, only to be stopped by the emperor himself. He had not gone to the battlefield but instead for a bundle which he deposited in her lap and said, "Put these on."

He had brought her uniform. "I know that you are good to fight but I want you to stay behind me."

"Yes," she said and moved towards the nearest tent to change, only to be turned around by the emperor and led to his own. He did not just let her in and close the flap though, but followed her and then, absurdly, turned his back to let her change. She paused before she did so and asked, "My lord?"

"Yes?" he replied, back still turned.

She squeezed the bundle in her hand to her chest and asked, "Um…is there something you needed?"

Silence, and then, "No one…looked…you know, if you were wondering…the men kept their heads down."

Lan Fan was trying not to think about that. She took a deep breath and said as casually as she could muster, "I am an imperial bodyguard…this is nothing."

"Don't say that," said the emperor. A pause and then, "I'll let you take his eyes and hands before I kill him."

Lan Fan smiled at his back, then released a short breath and said, "I already killed him. But there were at least two others in charge. We need to know who helped them arrange this attack. And Your Majesty should be back in the Imperial City." She turned her back to his and began to undress. They were in the middle of the battle and had no time for this.

Then the emperor said, "You can interrogate them for five minutes, no more. And then I will kill them."

Lan Fan rolled her eyes, fighting a smile, and said, "I do not need you to avenge my honour. He was a barbarian, it's what they do." She had managed to get out of her salvaged outfit and into her gi though she would need help with the chest armour and belt. Well, if the emperor insisted on sticking around she was going to be the first woman in Xing to have the Son of Heaven as a servant.

"They respect their women," said the emperor.

"Yes, well, I was a hostage. Hostages are not human," said Lan Fan. Pants on, boots on, top on and tucked into pants, chest plate over her head but the laces were loose. There, she had practiced enough that she could do most of this in her sleep one handed. Satisfied she turned around to ask the emperor to help her with the rest to find him staring at her and from the spots of colour on his cheeks at her wide-eyed look, it was clear that he had been for some time. She dropped her gaze to his feet and asked, "Your Majesty could have sensed from my qi that this one was not harmed. However this one understands that Your Majesty needs to see proof."

"He beat you," said the emperor.

"Yes, well, I was a hostage," said Lan Fan.

The emperor walked across the tent to her and began lacing up her armour. Then he said, "The other men...I'll let you take their eyes, hands and…anything else that you think they would not require in the Afterlife."

She looked up at him, to laugh it off, to scold him (respectfully, of course) for insisting on killing their only lead, to remind him of their duty but the words died on her tongue at the sight of him. He was pale and his eyes were red and a little too wet. She opened her mouth to say something, anything to distract him when he said, "About these rumours…"

"Are you kidding me? Your Majest—"

He cut her off with a kiss, his hands cradling her face to bring it closer and forcing her up onto her toes. She was too stunned to react, and unsure if she should, but then his hands left her face to grasp her around the waist and he lifted her up to her toes and it was all she could do to hold on, her hands going around his shoulders. She had gasped when he lifted her and he took advantage of it to deepen the kiss, his tongue sweeping through her mouth. She did not want to respond but she could not help it if her head tilted to the side a little.

At this he set her back down but pulled her closer to his chest, crushing her against him so tightly it was as if he wanted to mould them together. But there was still the matter of the battle raging outside, and Commander Liu's _qi_ was getting closer to the tent and so after a moment, Lan Fan pulled her head back, breaking the kiss and said, "We need to go."

The emperor sighed, released her and said, "Yes. People to kill, questions to answer…"

"Your Majesty has a one-track mind," said Lan Fan.

"Not really," said the emperor. "I also wish desperately to keep you at my side and keep you from harm." Her heart skipped her beat even as he continued blithely, "For some reason those things remain mutually exclusive. Maybe someday in the future they won't be but until that day I find that I will have to endure watching you get hurt and not being able to do a thing to stop it."

He was staring her in the eyes by the time he finished this and she had to squeeze hers shut to stop herself from grasping hold of him again. Instead she said, "This is not the worst day, my lord. It was bad, yes, and I hate it and I am angry at it but this is not the worst day. And it won't be. The worst day we shall ever have is the day I fail to do my duty to you, as I swore to do all those years ago. I am honoured that you desire to protect me but I do not need your protection. I...I..."

She trailed off as he took her by the hand and said, "I understand, Lan Fan. But you must understand that I will never not try. But this is not a conversation for now. _Now_ let's see how they like having their camp burned to the ground."

**-fin-**


End file.
